Hey guys, for today’s post I thought I’d review a book for you all. Recently, I’ve been reading the Mara Dyer series by Michelle Hodkin.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is the first book of three. I’ve read the first and second and I’m going to read the third once I’ve finished reading Asking For It (also a great book.) I know, I know, it would make more sense to wait until I’ve finished the third book but it’s so good that I literally can’t wait. I feel as though I have a fairly clear idea of the story and characters though because after all I’m more than half way through the series.

What is the story about?

The story line is absolutely brilliant. It’s about a girl, her best friend, her boyfriend and her boyfriends sister. One day they go into a building together to sign their their names on the wall. The building collapses. And Mara wakes up in hospital with no recollection of what happened. All she knows is that her friends and boyfriend couldn’t have survived it. Was it her fault? She and her family move away to a different city and Mara starts in a different school where she sees Noah. Noah has a reputation and not a good one. Somehow, they are drawn to each other. Noah and Mara’s grandmother both own the same necklace. How? Why? Loads of peculiar things start to happen and they try to figure it out as best as they can. Mara doesn’t know what’s real and what isn’t anymore. They’re searching and searching, trying to remember what happened that night, trying to figure out what makes them different to others and if they are the only ones feeling and acting like they are. It’s amazing!

Who is your favorite character?

To be honest, I’m really not sure I have one. I know, I know.. boring answer. I feel like my favorites are meant to be the two main characters – Noah and Mara. I also love Mara’s brother but Noah and Mara are my favorite characters because you just get immersed in their personality it’s unreal. I absolutely love books but I need to read page turners other wise I get bored and stop. This book is a definite page turner. It keeps you guessing for the whole book, it has twists that you would never ever think of. You think the characters and going to do one thing, or the book is going to go this way or that and you think you’ve thought of every possibility. But you just haven’t! Trust me.

Noah – I wasn’t sure about him at the beginning. I don’t think we’re meant to be sure of him. The story seems like it’s going to be one of those bad boy/good girl things but it wasn’t because Noah changes. His reputation is being with a lot of girls and every girl being interested in him. However, when he meets Mara, that changes. Everybody thinks she’s just going to be with him for a short period until he gets bored but that’s not the case. Noah is quite hard to read at times and Mara notices that. He’s really calm most of the time and he really loves Mara. He goes to all lengths to protect her. He isn’t the same with Mara as you would expect him to be with his reputation. He respects her.

Mara – Mara spends a lot of time in the books being confused about whats going on because she doesn’t understand what’s going on which makes her so motivated to figure out whats going on. I love her though, she’s an incredible character and she is really intelligent.

I just love everything about these books!

What is your favorite part of the book?

Well, my favorite part so far has been from the second book. The end of the second book. OH. MY. Honestly, you will never ever work it out… if you work it out, you’re an absolute genius. I thought a lot of things about the book but not in my wildest dreams would I have thought that what happened, happens. It’s so hard not telling you what happens but READ IT. Which leads me onto my next question:

Did this book make you laugh or cry?

I cried. I cried? what? If you’ve read my book tag post, you’ll know that I wrote there that I never cry at books and its true.. I’ve never cried at a book before until the end of the second in this series. I ran to my friends room who kindly let me borrow it having to calm myself down. Reading the last few pages, my heart was racing wondering what was going on.. and I had to go and speak to her about it because I was so confused and amazed by the author. It was incredible!

I think you get it now.. these are my favorite books. I don’t have one bad thing to say about them. I kind of wish I did so that I could have a balanced review.

Rating:

5 stars. Of course.

Let me know if you read it! or if you’ve read it and hated it then also let me know aha!
What is your favorite book?
Much Love,

Hello guys,
Today I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes with you. I’ve gotten myself into a little routine here on this blog, haven’t I? So far so good. I’ve been writing every day and every second day is a poem/lyrics post. I hope you’re enjoying reading because I love writing. Each day, I try to write something in my journal so that I have a poem to put on my blog and most days I don’t think I’m going to manage but I always do. Some how. I’ll doze off to sleep and be shaken by my mind racing with new ideas, or someone will say something that will spark creativity, or I’ll sit with my laptop in front of me and just think. Think. The thoughts are often there, there’s so much to write about in life that it’s just getting them down on paper that’s the trickier part. But it’s also the most amazing part. Writing, I mean. Getting things out of your mind and constructing them onto paper in front of you. Trust me, it really helps. Even if you don’t understand a situation, writing helps to make some sort of sense out of a situation. Try it.

Anyway, I love quotes. And thank you to Eilidh (Turning The Faucet On) for suggesting I also do this. You should definitely check out her blog by the way. She writes incredible short stories and inspired me to carry on my blog. I’m not sure I’ll be as good as her at explaining my reasoning behind why I love and picked these particular quotes to hang on my pin board in my room but never the less, I shall try my best.

Sorry..

I’m in a bit of a rambling mood today. I could literally just stop the post here and it would be enough writing for a blog post on its own.

Why am I still blabbering? Ah, Sorry. Quotes. Yes.

“The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage.”
Courage. What a concept. If we have courage we are more free and that’s what I love about this quote. Before the summer, I didn’t branch out at all. I had my little box and stayed in it. Every time I stuck even a hand outside of this box, I’d freak my self out and scurry back inside, you know what I mean, right? But then, I went to Africa. Africa. An adventure. Behind all of my nervousness, I’m definitely an adventurer. definitely. And this quote just encouraged me to have courage, to step out and be free in what I want to do and accomplish in life.

“Don’t die with your song still inside of you.”While setting up for an event I was holding to raise money for going to Rwanda, I was looking for quotes to write out cutely and put on tables for people to take home and I came across this one. It kind of just, stuck. Isn’t it beautiful? It just tells us to keep going, keep going even when we feel like we might fail. It tells us not to let ourselves fade away but to keep singing and keep going. Especially since I study music, I like this. Although, I don’t take it literally. I mean, I don’t think it means that I’m not allowed to die until I’ve sung my favorite song. That’s just my opinion though.

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.”I just think this is so so important. In this day and age we focus so much on success. What is success? Well, to this world, it’s money. Fame. Family. Fortune. All of these things. I just think we have to be careful not to get happiness and success mixed up. The African kids were the most enthusiastic people I had met and they had nothing but Jesus. They’re stories were painful to hear but they were happy. That says something. There’s a difference people.

“Let us aim for harmony and build each other up.”I just love this as a reminder to be kind, to encourage and love people because after all, we’re all in the same boat. You know, doing life together. It’s important to make sure people feel encouraged and valued, it really really is 🙂

“Is life a problem to be solved or an adventure to be lived?”
This question really hits home for me. I mean, we all know the answer that the questions wants us to give. It wants us to say “Life is an adventure to be lived” but I know for me I often treat life as a problem. Another problem after another and another problem. Its hard to notice the things that are going well when your mind automatically focuses on the problems. Ya feel? I just think life is meant to be an adventure and we need to live it.. really live it.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
In other words, don’t let just anyone there. Your heart is where you love and love is one of the ( if not the ) most important thing in life. Guard it. It’s precious.

“… be confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”This one helps me in times when I feel helpless, not good enough, unworthy. It gives me hope.

“It’s easy to set up camp and call it home. But that stops the flow of the journey.”
Man, I just love this to pieces. It’s brilliant. Interpret it however you like but it’s so true.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.”
This kind of links with one of the previous quotes. I just like the truth of it. Love is such a strong feeling. It can be the best and worst thing all at the same time and that’s what makes it so beautiful.

“The pain is now part of the happiness.”
This one helps me not to focus on pain but to use any pain I’ve felt to know what happiness is, to help other people, to use it positively and not to be drowned by the negative side of it. It’s hard to describe.

“Hold onto the good.”
So simple. Yet so true.

“One day at a time.”
Refer to (I Got a Tattoo) blog post for explanations 🙂

” One must be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have to power to change us.”
I love this because books do have the power to change us. We can be so influenced by others around us and what they have to say that it can change our thought processes and the way we look at particular situations. Books are incredible. This is also why I write, to be changed and to bring change.

Sorry, I ended on an annoying number. I can just hear you say, “Lisa. Why. Why didn’t you just stop at 10? Or carry on until 15 or 20? Preferably 20.” Sorry, my bad. I do have loads and loads of other quotes that I love but those are just some of them that are on my pin board at the moment.

Please, if you have a blog and love quotes too, comment and tell me your blog name and you should also write about your favorite quotes 🙂

Have a good day (or night!) where ever you are in the world.
Much love,

I have no idea where to re-begin this whole blogging milarky. I guess I should probably tell you what I have been doing for the last two months. So the last kind of ‘event’ that I blogged about was Glasgow. Man, that was ages ago! So since then I’ve watched EVERY Gilmore Girls… I mean, this is an achievement. It was so so good! And so light hearted but addictive at the same time. I am also still in school and have chosen my subjects for 6th year. Yes, my last year of school. I remember my brother being in 6th year and thinking that he was way too old.. now I’m here and I am so excited! I chose Int2 Maths, Higher Art, Higher Modern Studies and Advanced Higher German. I was planning on taking Higher History. I love History but I needed to take Higher English for helping with the advanced level of essay writing in this subject. Lets face it, I am not the best at English. I can barely do Int2. I also have an idea for University and I need 4 highers (BBBC), Int2 maths and English at a grade 3 in Standard Grade. I have the grade 3 in English so that is VERY handy..

The course is called Tourism Management + an EU Language. I would take German as my foreign language. I think I would really love to study this because travelling is a passion that I have, I love finding out about different cultures and places. I have done a lot of research and have many back up plans (3 colleges and 3 universities). I feel so organised.. but it just hit me that you really have to at this stage… I have also done all of my prelims and I am confident that I at least won’t fail them. With study leave I hope that I will achieve the best that I can 🙂 I need to get a B in RMPS. I got a C in the prelim so I think that should be fine 🙂

Oh, and the University that I would most like to attend is Napier University in Edinburgh. Take a look:Weird but wonderful, right? This part looks a bit more traditional 🙂

The thing is, I really do love the mix of modern and tradition. On one hand I love the traditional environment but I also really think modern buildings look so cool! So yea, thats that 🙂

On the non school side of things, I played guitar and sang along side one of my favorite people at youth. As you all know, confidence isn’t my strong point and I really wish it was easier for me. I also believe that I need to confront it.. Singing and playing guitar are two of my most favorite things to do in the world and I’m not going to let my nerves interfere with that. Worship is just what I do. I love it so much. I couldn’t preach or write a poem or paint an amazing prophetic picture.. there is just something about music that stirs something up inside of me. It makes me feel like I can do anything. It is my way of expressing myself. I can’t even describe it. If you have the same feeling as me, you will know what I mean 🙂 So playing in the worship band went really really well. We both took turns to lead because I really rather leading than harmony to be honest. I have never really practiced harmonizing but it was so so much fun and I can’t wait to do it again some time. It’s so worth the nervous break down before hand 😉

There is probably loads more I could talk about but I am feeling that this blog post is long enough and I think your are updated enough for me to carry on as normal 😀 Love you all.

It is 9.30pm. I have just finished doing some preparation for a Modern Studies NAB tomorrow. I had already done it but I have to add some more information in.. because.. well.. I didn’t really answer the question. This topic only took one week. For the last topic I passed my NAB with no problems but I misunderstood this question. Anyway, I had been trying to google examples of violent and non-violent action by pressure groups probably for the last 3 hours. Even now, I don’t have a clue if I have been doing it right. My solution is just to go and ask my teacher in the morning. As you can probably imagine, I am now so tired and have wanted to go to sleep for the last hour. I am so tired.

First though, I had to read my friend’s blog post. She wrote about how she was excited to have a domino’s pizza waiting for her when she returned home after a busy day in Perth for work. Which is quit a long drive for one day, in the snow. Yes! side note, it snowed this morning. How excited I was!! Shouting around the house just to make sure everybody knew that Inverness looked like a winter wonderland. As well as that, I walked into registration this morning shouting to my regi teacher while my immensely heavy bag was thrown onto the table (she is quite used to her tea being spilled and paper work flying everywhere by now because of my heavy bag, it does make her laugh so its all good) shouting “Mrs Rathbone, its snowing!! Its snowing!!” Yep. I did that.

To the point of this blog post, just now as I sit on the floor worrying that i have spent 3 hours researching the wrong things and worrying that I haven’t even started memorizing what I need to know but only shrunk it down to bullet points and high- lighting that I am going to Hamburg in a couple of weeks. Now, THAT is something to look forward to. Especially since we have an itinerary that we are most likely going a head with.. its is so exciting. I have never been to Hamburg before. The places that I am most excited for are, sightseeing in central Hamburg, Chocolate museum, Christmas parade, Christmas markets, mini wonderland and of course shopping. There are other things such as a boat cruise, a couple of more museums etc but those are the ones that I am most looking forward to. I can not wait!

Yesterday, after such a fun time long boarding, Rachael painted my nails. She is actually amazing at nail art so she asked me what I wanted. I saw she had Tumblr and Youtube nails (How cool is that!?) So I thought about two of my favorite apps – Whatsapp and WordPress 😀 Instagram too but that would just take forever.

So take a look:

Well, after this fast post I am now off to make some dinner for my friend and I 🙂

Today was also wonderful. I spent the day with my cousin. She is leaving this Monday:( but today was great! The weather was beautiful and Katharina, my auntie and I headed into Weilheim. I needed gifts so I maneged to buy most of them but some I will try to find tomorrow. We also went to a cafe to cool our self down with ice cream or in my case, milkshake:) We took the train back to Oma Ingrid where I just could not stop reading. I read and took a break for dinner and then kept reading until my Dad came to take me back to Oma Rita. I am almost finished so I am getting to excited to know the ending but so so nervous about what is happening in the book just now. It is seriously my favorite book so far!! I love it… And it is keeping me hooked until the end. I had to force myself to stop reading so I can actually get some sleep for setting of earlier tomorrow. It was such a great day!

Hey everyone, so it is the 3rd of July now so it’s time for my June Instagram Update 🙂

This month I had a photo shoot with my brother 😀

Spent the day with my friend, Lucy. We went into town and to a concert in the evening. It was so much fun!! And, it only finished at about 11pm so I was half falling asleep by the time we walked out of the venue.

Said goodbye so my wonderful friend who has left to go to Japan for a couple of months. I was given some beautiful paintings from her : )

Found some new songs 🙂 ‘Everything In Color’ by Ben Cantelon is so good! If you haven’t listened to it, you should. I love it!

As you know, just before school ended we had prize giving. This was the book I chose and I haven’t even started it yet. I will!

My brother has been working on the masterpiece of his pond. Looks really good doesn’t it?

My friend gave me hair curlers!! 😀

The holidays have begun!!

Last but not least, I have started packing for Germany. Only 6 days left…

This morning at around 9.30am one of my fake little sisters phoned me from the airport. She was waiting for her plane to Greece with her family. She of course was super excited and told me about her hotel with a swimming pool! This got me excited for Germany.

In exactly one week I will arrive in Munich where it will hopefully we glorious weather! I am really looking forward to going to the lakes and enjoying the sun. The sad thing is that I don’t tan.. but the good thing is that when I burn it doesn’t hurt 🙂 Today, I started the mission of trying to fit all that I will need for a 3 week holiday in a hand luggage suit case. Yes! Hand luggage. For 3 weeks. I can tell you it’s a task but I think it’s going well (so far!) If all fails I can always steal some space from my brothers suitcase (he has a big one because he’s staying for 5 weeks.) So it will be OK:) I’ve tried to pack the minimum because I know that I’m most likely going to go shopping there too. I can’t wait.

I always make a list just to make sure that I don’t forget anything.

See… it’s not overflowing! yet..I will give you a more detailed packed suitcase probably at the weekend 🙂 I hope everybody is having wonderful holidays!!

P.s in case you wanted to know, this was my workout today 🙂But leg lifts instead of lunges.